Het blijft maar bewegen in Nepal, al neemt de frequentie en de hevigheid af:
KATHMANDU, JUN 29 – A fresh aftershock of 5 on the Richter scale was felt early Monday morning. The National Seismological Centre said that the epicenter of the fresh quake that occured at at 5:42am today was Ramechhap district.
Earlier, a quake of 4.3 on the Richter scale occurred with its epicenter in Sindhupalchowk district at 10:1 pm on Sunday.
With today’s count, the aftershocks measuring over four Richter scale have reached 332 since April 25’s destructive quake, said the National Seismological Centre.
Hulpgelden
Er is in Nepal veel te doen over hulpgelden. De Internationale Conferentie die afgelopen donderdag werd gehouden, heeft 4.4 Miljard dollar opgeleverd.
The donors and multilateral financial as well as other institutions participating in the conference not only pledged collective financial support of US$ 4.4 billion to Nepal, but also demonstrated strong solidarity and goodwill with Nepal’s efforts to build back better.
China en India bieden tegen elkaar op:
In the conference organised to raise fund for rebuilding the nation ravaged by the deadly earthquake of April 25 and the subsequent aftershocks, India announced the largest amount in aid—NRs 100 billion ( US $ 1 billion) for Nepal’s post-earthquake reconstruction. One fourth of the amount has been extended as grant assistance.
Likewise, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pledged to extend Rs 76 billion or 4.7 billion RMB ( US $760 million) both grant and loan. China also offered a concessional loan from Silk Road Fund from China to Nepal’s reconstruction bid. China will offer training opportunities for 1,500 Nepalis over the next year.
Er is ook achterdocht:
Despite Prime Minister Sushil Koirala’s assurance of zero-tolerance on corruption in relation to the funds pledged at the International Conference on Nepal’s Reconstruction on Thursday, our bilateral and multilateral donors are far from assured. This was the reason almost all of them who made pledges after Koirala’s opening remarks — pledges worth a total of US $4.4 billion, according to the government — also emphasized the need for a high level of transparency.
This won’t be easy in one of the most corrupt countries in the world. But, as donors suspect, if the funds coming in don’t reach the intended beneficiaries, no amount of international help can restore the broken lives of hundreds of thousands of earthquake victims. This is, of course, assuming that donors are honest themselves.
Maar ook de donoren krijgen een waarschuwende vinger toegezwaaid:
Recent studies on the effectiveness of foreign aid in Nepal have found that most of the aid money — as much as 90 percent by some estimates — go into covering overhead costs and sky-high fees of international consultants. Since many of the donors will channel their disaster funds through their Nepal-based INGOs, there is plenty of room for scepticism.
So, our donors also need to be transparent about how they spend their disaster funds. They are accountable not only to their governments back home, but also to the intended beneficiaries of their projects.
Again, donors are reluctant to put their money into the Prime Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund or to offer budgetary support because they don’t trust the government enough. But we would still like to see them contribute more to government coffers. In return, they can ask for a high level of transparency every step of the process. This in turn will help in the building of robust national institutions. There can be no bigger contribution to post-earthquake Nepal than helping restore people’s trust in their government.
(Bronnen: My Republica en The Kathmandu post)
Artists for Nepal
De
Verkooptentoonstelling Artists for Nepal, gisteren in Den Haag bij Galerie Ramakers, was geheel gericht op het herstel van het culturele erfgoed in Nepal.
Het was een groot succes. Totaal werd voor een (voorlopig!) bedrag van € 35000 verkocht aan kunstwerken, die door bekende Nederlandse kunstenaars ter beschikking werden gesteld.
Het ligt in de verwachting dat dit bedrag verder zal groeien, want u kunt nog bieden! Ga naar http://artistsfornepal.nl/#online-bieden. De tentoonstelling loopt tot en met 6 Juli.
Het verzamelde bedrag zal in zijn geheel worden besteed aan het herstel van de Bagmati Promenade (zie ook het vorige Nepal Nieuws).
Namaste, thanks for interesting info. I support ,since 1991, Icfon, ( International council for freinds of Nepal.
Icfon is one of the most integer and transparant help organisations, Almost all the donaTIONS GO DIRECTLy
to Nepal, in cooperation with Nepali organisations, who asked for our support and “know how”
Namaste , Barbara Wurfbain.
Ik zou iedereen aanraden om door te gaan met het sturen van hulp naar Nepal. Er mogen dan wel grote acties geweest zijn, alle hulp om dit land weer op te bouwen is nog steeds welkom.